The Trinity in Relation: The Father as Monarch and He that Gives

"The Father loves the Son and has given all things into His hand"

John 3:35

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A doctrine unique to Eastern Christianity is that we hold the "Monarchy of the Father" to mean that the Father is the distinct source of the hypostases of both the Son and the Spirit. They draw their existence from the Father, for the Son is begotten of the Father and the Spirit's procession is from the Father, while both still being uncreated, coeternal and consubstantial with the Father. St John Damascene writes "All then that the Son and the Spirit have is from the Father, even their very being: and unless the Father is, neither the Son nor the Spirit is. And unless the Father possesses a certain attribute, neither the Son nor the Spirit possesses it: and through the Father, that is, because of the Father’s existence, the Son and the Spirit exist." In this way, we distinguish the Persons of the Trinity: the Father as Unbegotted, the Son as Begotten and the Spirit as Proceeded from the Father. 

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In operation, we can see God the Father as Supreme Giver who has all and yet He spares nothing whatsoever for Himself, always giving to the Son through the Spirit. When Christ is baptized for example, the Father pours out His love upon the Son in His proclamation over Him and through the Spirit's descension. Christ is then lead by the Spirit into the desert to fast, resisting temptation, pleasing the Father in His actions and reciprocating love by the Spirit. The Father eternally moves in love toward the Son through the procession of the Spirit and the Son reciprocates love back toward the Father in obedience to His will by that same Spirit. The same foundational covenantal relationship that is present in our relationship with God is also manifested intrinsically within the Trinity: of the Father willing to give, of the Son spurred to obedience, of the Spirit perfecting the work. The difference here is that while we stumble in sin, Christ always pleases the Father, for as Christ Himself said "I always do the things that are pleasing to Him.” (John 8:29)